My Very Own Garden Behind A Lake House For Self Sustainability, Vegan Lifestyle And Food Freedom

Last winter after experiencing another family financial crisis, we as a family decided to buy our land and produce our own food. My father being jobless at the time, and having no income taught that even if he worked as a worker for somebody he will spend all the money on food and bills anyway. We had some savings but not enough for what we wanted - a house on the country side where we can come and during weekends and relax, with some land around it so that we can produce our own food.

My father being a passionate fishermen envisioned it by the lake, so after a hard day of work he can relax and go fish. After collectively focusing our thoughts an opportunity presented it self, and we purchased the property. The house was in a vary bad condition, but we managed to fix it a bit, with a help of the good will from our new neighbors. That experience of working on fixing the roof, digging a cesspit, installing the water really introduced us the community there. And what a community it is! Everyone who was a property there bought it for the same reason as we did - to escape the rat race and have there piece of mind. Our neighbor just next to us is still lending us electricity, because we are going to install solar panels in the future and that is an expensive investment.

Anyway here is a walk-trough video I've made specially for this post:

The property is located 7km from my hometown Jagodina in Central Serbia, along side the Great Morava river bank.

Garden 1 is only for our needs and it has 7 ares which is about 700 square meters. That garden is planted with everything from greens like spinach, chard, 5 kind of lettuce, dock... beans and peas, vegetables (tomatoes, zucchinis, eggplants, paprika...), tubes (4 kind of onion and garlic, carrots, potatoes...) and spices like oregano, basil.. Last season we tried melons, but the land was not suitable for those. We plant only older seeds that we found on the country side, they are more resilient to pests and we don't spray against bugs. We even took it so far that we killed potato bugs with our hands. This season we invested in building an automated watering system (those black tubes on the ground).

Garden 2 is larger, about 80 ares (8000 square meters), cultivated for sale, and my father goes to the farmers market every weekend. Last season we mainly cultivated cabbage, peas, lettuce... but this season my father decided to go with flowers due to the higher price. We use all that money to invest in further development of our property.

As you can see the house is still under construction, but we are not in a hurry. Whenever we can we invest in it, but we need about 7000 euros to finish it completely.

Here is a view from the terrace from which you can see both gardens and basketball court we are building for my younger brother Ilija who aspires to become a professional basketball player.

It requires hard work and dedication, but the feeling of eating your own food and not having to go to the market is priceless. I cant even describe the feeling when I made my first diner completely from the food we produced. I made zucchini ships with tomato sos, and a cantaloupe cake. Food freedom is the best thing in the world. I feel more connected with nature, and more satisfied with the quality of my life for having such an oasis. I would recommend it to everyone who want's to be independent, and live a healthier lifestyle. Plus you don't have to go to the gym, and you catch enough sun :)

That looks really good! Even though you can never trust on full self sustainability even on food (as a bad year can do real damage), it is most usually helping in getting some good quality food almost for free + investing your time.

In best case, you'll be able to share food with others too, as not all food will last long enough if you get really good harvest :)

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You are right, its not a sure thing, but in Serbia where job is not a sure thing this is a safer option. You only depend on the labour you put in, and the weather conditions which are 90% of the time in favour.

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Sounds lucky enough :) We have a 100 square meter farming plot on the outskirts of our home town/city and last year, big pieces of our crop were damaged by plant diseases and way too chilly august.. but it's different when we are high up in the north :)

I wish all the best for your project.

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Yeah our location has better weather conditions, and you can expect it. Thanks I don't know why people here are so passionate about gardening is it rare in your part of the world? In Serbia everyone was a house on the country side, or grandparents living in the Villages who have a small garden. There is no option to survive here with the minimum wage of around 260 euros that to produce your own food.

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In Finland, wages are typically higher and even social care payments are way higher than that, but then.. our rents are high. In a small city, the rent for a single room apartment is typically over around 500 euros. We are lucky to have a moderate priced three room apartment for rent and it's a bit over 700 euros per month.

So even though we have more money, we have to pay more. Food is ok though, as nobody really has to starve and we can afford basic food (1 kilo potatoes ~0,49 euros)

But Finns are crazy about gardening, but not the useful kind of gardening usually. Planting flowers and such, spending big money on making the garden beautiful, typically having some berry bushes or an apple tree, not that much of vegetables to eat though :)

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Thanks for the tour @drumsta!!! It is soooooo fulfilling to take care of your own needs and to be able to share the abundance with others. How blessed we both are to live close to nature and connect with thriving plants everyday. I'm glad you found the @gardenofeden. I know you will be inspired by what is taking place here in the middle of one of the most conservative, bible-belt controlled regions of the U.S. Hopefully you have also found our website http://www.intothegardenofeden.com/

The founder @quinneaker has solutions for, and already implementing all of the things you have worries about. He's a powerful one to tune into. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other around here!!

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People are caught up in the rat race to often, not realizing whats most important in life. Consumer culture is ruining the world. And if we stand up to it and try to be free from it the last thing they get us trough is our children. Many times have I came across a person who thinks and feels the same as I do but chooses to participate in the rat race because he has a child to look after and want to provide for them. I am bringing my friend Igor on steemit his is an expert in this topic and hi will explain it better then me in his studies.
For now we just all need to spread the message of freedom, and fight for it on every frontier!

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I feel the best fight we can have is to create something completely different. Giving more energy, for or against, simply amplifies that which we say we do not want. When people learned what I thought about the educational system, they would harass me to put my kids there and stand up to make change. Jeopardizing the well-being of my children to fix a broken system was definitely not on my agenda!! And that is only one facet of the picture, though perhaps one of the most important ones. We have to begin a whole new world, based on love not on fear. When @quinneaker presented his vision to me, there was nothing else I could do but to put all my support toward the possibility. He has incorporated answers for many of this world's ills. The answer is to BE the change!!

I'm excited to see what your friend has to share. The more of us that stand in truth, the better!! Thanks so much for your response @drumsta. It's great to connect with you.

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Absolutely beautiful! And quiet and peaceful! I love country living. And there is nothing that tastes better than home grown fruits and vegetables and herbs! That is a huge undertaking you and your family have there. But in the end with all the space and quiet area it is well worth it. Blessings to you and your family and my you always be prosperous! Thank you for sharing a little bit of your world.

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